Literature of the Hart

World Book Day is being celebrated on Thursday 6th March this year. It's a fantastic opportunity to talk about reading, celebrate reading, make time for reading and generally promote reading in a fun and positive way.  I'm looking forward to helping at some local schools with The Bookery, a local bookshop and social enterprise staffed mainly by volunteers with a passion to promote reading in the community. What a great opportunity for you to think about something creative to do too!

This time of year, A Level students are becoming more focused on applying to university. My experience as a headteacher taught me that bright and capable pupils benefit enormously from individual mentoring and coaching.   By giving each student individual attention, I was able to act as a catalyst in a number of areas: * Getting them reading relevant books, periodicals and online material  * Encouraging their emerging confidence in what I call “intellectual talk” – talking in detail about the subject(s) they hope to study at university * Advising them how to be more effective in study and university application habits Nurture Your Uni Dream  consists of personalised mentoring and coaching based on five key areas : 1. Personalised exploration of students’ interests and academic passions 2.  One-to-one discussion and extension of students’ wider reading in their subjects of interest 3.  Opening students’ minds to the wealth of quality online resources 4....

  I'm delighted to have been given the opportunity to share some of my writing at an event at The Bookery in Crediton in Devon, where I also volunteer as the co-ordinator of author visits to local secondary schools. I will be reading from my new publication, called Devon A Light, which is available to purchase here .

Since September I have worked with a wide range of students who are applying to either Oxford or Cambridge. They are intelligent and are predicted high grades. I know from my experience as a headteacher that even bright and capable pupils benefit enormously from individual mentoring and coaching.  By giving each student individual attention, I am able to act as a catalyst in a number of areas: *Getting them reading relevant books, periodicals and online material  *Encouraging their emerging confidence in what I call “ intellectual talk ” – talking in detail about the subject(s) they hope to study at university *Advising them how to be more effective in study and university application habits Nurture Your Uni Dream  consists of personalised mentoring and coaching based on five key areas : 1. Personalised exploration of students’ interests and academic passions 2.  One-to-one discussion and extension of students’ wider reading in their subjects of interest 3.  Ope...

This week I will be giving a presentation to parents about how their children can best be supported as they apply for university. My experience as a headteacher taught me that bright and capable pupils benefit enormously from individual mentoring and coaching. By giving each student individual attention, I was able to act as a catalyst in a number of areas: Getting them reading relevant books, periodicals and online material Encouraging their emerging confidence in what I call “intellectual talk” - talking in detail about the subject(s) they hope to study at university Advising them how to be more effective in study and university application habits This is why I created my programme ‘Nurture Your Uni Dreams, to nurture your university dreams. You can find our more here .

To do well in English Literature at both GCSE and A Level, students need to memorise quotations. But some students find it difficult to know how to do this.   There are a number of key steps in the process: developing an overview of the whole text identifying quotations which are worth knowing learning the actual quotations A technique I use with my students is known as  dual coding (see my previous post on using dual coding to learn new vocabulary here ) This highly effective, and fun, technique, involves writing the quotation as part of a quick sketch (great artistic skill is not required!) that is associated with the quotation.  I am a specialist at stretching students to achieve high grades, and  offer a free 30 minute online introductory session if you would like to know more .  Contact me via the Contact Form   here .

So many students are trying to learn new English vocabulary but don't know the most effective ways to learn. A technique I use with my students is known as dual coding. This highly effective, and quite fun, technique, involves writing the word as part of a picture that is associated with the word.  For example, in the image below, the word "GROW" is shown in a way that also clearly shows what it means! Students' drawings obviously do not need to be adapted photos or graphics like this!  Quick (and not particularly artistic!) drawings are just as effective, especially if they are funny as well .  Humour is a great way to remember something! Try it with a few examples of words you are trying to learn at the moment, and I am confident that you will find it improves your ability to remember and recall new vocabulary and their meanings! We are now additionally offering EAL (English as an Additional Language) for children (and adults) who do not speak English as their first...